


Choked up

by Keinee



Category: Avengers
Genre: AU, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Endgame, Established Relationship, Past Mpreg, ish, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 20:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21287780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keinee/pseuds/Keinee
Summary: If bootstrap paradox wasn’t real. OR he just lands in an alternate timeline. I’ll debate time travel when laws start applying to it?
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Kudos: 11





	Choked up

“Morgan loves me 3000. It might be selfish but I wish I’ll be her highest number.”

Tony’s hologram replays itself in Steve’s mind a million times a day. Not the one they’d shown the family but the one pepper had handed him after. This was what he’d left behind- he thought it was worth it. And Bucky was- should be, but right now it doesn’t feel like it.

He slides a hand over the photograph, the cover’s already wet with tears. Tony’s exhausted smile and their daughter’s red face were the most precious gifts he’s ever had his entire lifetime. And he’d thrown that away unknowingly. He didn’t even get to apologize, not for the things that matter. 

Still, tony has forgiven him it seems. He has visitation rights - parent rights. He can make decisions for her, with her when she grows up. Tony still included him in her future. It struck Steve to the core- he knew. Tony, the smarmy bastard, had known it all along. “You must be laughing at me right about now.” Steve brushes stray leaves on Tony’s tombstone. “You’d be right to. I’m a foolish man.”

He fishes the letter Tony left him. Come home. Yeah, he should do that. He trudges down the well worn pathway. People were still on the edge of the cemetery waiting to pay their respects but they always give him time alone. 

When he peeks inside lakeside house, he sees Pepper and Happy dancing around with Morgan. She’s home but he’s not- it can’t be his home now that he’s brought it to ruins. He clenches the last vial of Pym particle. One selfish thing he’d kept from his journey to return the stones. 

This time he returns to the battlefield. When he does, he’s single minded in his determination. He wrestles the gauntlet from an addled Tony and snaps the damn thing himself. So what if he’s the one who dies here? He’s dead inside anyway. And the Steve here- well, if he’s turning to ashes too then he’s better off this way. This time he could do one right thing for his husband and daughter. Just one thing. 

He looks up at Tony, the man looks devastated. “No- no it was me, it’s supposed to be me.” 

Steve raises a hand to his cheek. “Thank you.” Recognition filters through Tony’s eyes. “You saw her.” Steve smiles, coughing as blood wells up in his throat. “B-beaut’ful.” Tony’s smile is painful and genuine. “Of course she is. She’s half you.” Steve finally loses the knot on his forehead and for the first time, he feels light and happy. Tony kisses his forehead and presses their bodies close. “Rest now, we’ll take care of everything else.” 

Steve enjoys the moment and stares at himself straight in the eye. Here’s your second chance. His counterpart looks wrecked but he understands. Steve knows- he had the same reaction when he first heard it from Pepper. This time, he hopes he’ll do good by them. The world fades to black but Tony’s there to hold him and lay him to rest- it’s warm and inviting. 

Tony makes a beeline for his daughter when the battle ends. Pepper handles the clean up and coordinates with governments. Steve doesn’t snap at his heels but he does stand by the lake house, ready to defend them if anything stumbles out the reef so to speak. Tony can’t bring himself to say anything. Steve knows- that Steve knew. He must have died in another version of this. He must have- and Steve had- he sweeps Morgan into his arms and holds her until she’s falling asleep again. 

He brings her out to the patio when he’s calmer. Steve’s still manning the perimeter, his body’s tense and his face taut with fatigue but he’s alert. “Sit down before you fall down Steve.” The man looks at him, obviously ashamed of himself. “I don’t think I could rest if I wanted to.” 

Tony pats the seat beside him. “Try.” Yeah, he’s getting really soft, must be the motherhood thing. Steve sits stiffly beside him on the couch. Tony arranges them so that Morgan’s feet are on Steve’s lap, forcing the soldier to relax. Steve’s out just an hour before dawn but not before he’d gone up and cocooned Tony and Morgan in a nest of blankets. Yeah, overbearing father, it’s easy to see it now.

Steve jolts awake when he hears the whir of a motor. He’s up, ushering a sleepy Tony and Morgan into the house. He tucks them between a solid wall and his body but it’s just Natasha on her bike after a few seconds. Tony understands the impulse, he’d been this way after he lost Peter. He’d been this way when Morgan was born too, afraid that whatever Thanos had done, he would do again, and this time Morgan would also be gone. He’s been living in constant fear and it’s the first time he’s come up for air. 

He strokes Steve’s cheek when the man helps him up. “Sleep some more. You look like hell.” He pawns Morgan into Steve’s arm and she looks up at him with wide eyed blue eyes. “S’eep.” Steve looks dumbfounded but he makes his way up. It’s only Tony’s helpful third door on the left that stops him from kicking on every door on the way just to keep from waking his precious cargo. 

She sleeps to the nursery rhyme his mom sang him. He cries all over her bedding. When he looks up, Tony’s at the door. “I’m sorry.” 

Tony looks taken aback. “You’d an so better than apologize.”

Steve nods. “I hope so but it’s a start.”


End file.
